Calls for 20mph speed limit renewed after van crash shuts a Lewes pub
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Pub landlady and councillors are renewing calls for a 20mph speed limit in residential areas after a van crashed into the Blacksmith Arms on Saturday night, May 11.
Drixi and Jazz Benjamin’s much loved pub and B&B, The Blacksmith’s Arms, was bought to a halt after the drink-driver crashed into the building.
Drixi, Landlady of the Blacksmith Arms, said: “I was behind the bar finishing off for the evening, luckily our last customers were sitting out the back. Suddenly I heard a massive crash, even the floor was shaking, it was like an earthquake, there was glass flying everywhere smashing into the pub.
“Jazz and I ran outside, I checked the driver, he was fortunately unhurt. We went outside with torches to warn the traffic and slow it down but the cars were still driving past us like lunatics. One driver even tried to overtake the cars slowing down! It was lucky no one was standing out the front smoking or that no one was walking past.”
Green Party Councillors Lucy Agace and Joa Saunders with Jazz Benjamin, Landlord of the Blacksmith Arms, Offham outside the Blacksmith Arms.
According to Sussex Police[2], a Ford Transit van collided with the Blacksmiths Arms pub on the A275, Offham, about 10.35pm on Saturday 11 May. Officers attended and the driver – Liam Torbett, 37, of Southdown Road, Newhaven – was arrested and charged with drink-driving.
He has been released on conditional bail to appear before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 30 May, according to police.
Green Party Councillors[3] are urging East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to listen to residents and local businesses and take urgent action to slow down traffic on our roads.
Cllr Lucy Agace said: “This is a familiar story all over the district, the County Council is out of step with what local people want. We are urging local residents to sign the petition for 20 mph in residential areas to slow cars down. Let’s get enough people to get their voices heard so they have to take notice of us.”
An East Sussex County Council spokesperson said: “We understand that the driver involved in the collision at the weekend has been charged with drink driving, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further on the incident.
“Sussex Police has recorded one collision resulting in injury on the stretch of road directly outside the Blacksmiths Arms in the last three year period. The bends just to the north of this section of the A275 have been identified as a site for a potential Local Safety Scheme due to the number of collisions that Sussex Police have recorded there. We will be looking at appropriate road safety interventions on the approaches to and through the bends, which will include the stretch of road in front of the Blacksmiths Arms.
“We have a finite amount of funding to develop local road safety and transport improvements and need to ensure that we target our resources to those schemes which will be of greatest benefit to our local communities. Current local and national evidence indicates that introducing 20mph speed limits on all residential roads would not make best use of our resources, and that targeted interventions are more effective.”
References
- ^ Visit Shots! now (www.shotstv.com)
- ^ Sussex Police (www.sussexexpress.co.uk)
- ^ Councillors (www.sussexexpress.co.uk)